


To Live Again

by thefourarmedtitan



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, F/F, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Kissing, Light Swearing, More Characters/Relationships to be Added, Post Anime Spoilers, Rating may be Changed, Titan!Annie, Titan!Eren, light Violence, post titan AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-15
Updated: 2014-06-23
Packaged: 2018-02-04 16:53:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1786333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefourarmedtitan/pseuds/thefourarmedtitan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Titan AU: Armin Arlert regularly visits the abandoned cell of a crystallized Annie Leonhart after discovering the seashore. Despite Eren and Mikasa saying that she will never wake up, she does. However her awakening is noticed by more people than just Armin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It has been one year since it was revealed that Reiner and Bertholdt were the infamous Armored and Colossal Titans, and they have both fallen along with the Ape Titan and the majority of the Titan race. The two Shifters, Ymir and Eren Yeager, were instrumental in humanity's victory. Historia Reiss has taken her rightful place at the throne thanks to the efforts of Erwin Smith and Dot Pixis, she rules alongside Ymir, who joined her on the throne after the Titan War ended. Most of the Survey Corps and curious citizens have left the walls where they stayed for over a century. Armin Arlert, alongside Eren Yeager and Mikasa Ackerman discovered the sea after a week long search. The rest of the remaining 104th trainees joined them and they reside by the seashore, with occasional visits from the Queens. Armin Arlert however, lives about a mile away from his old allies, near a rocky beach in a small house, but receives frequent visits from his friends if he does not go to see them first. The young man still returns to the Walls, to visit someone who the rest of the world has given up on.

*************************

"Where are you heading Armin?" Eren called out once he saw his childhood friend heaving small bags onto a horse drawn carriage.  
"The Walls, I have someone to see."  
"It's her isn't it?" Eren sighed, "who you're going to see?"  
"I still believe she's alive, even if you don't." Armin stated flatly, becoming slightly defensive.  
"Annie's been in that crystal for over a year," Eren reminded his friend, "and even if she does ever come back out, very few people will be happy to see her again. Not only that, but any previous relationship you two had is probably-"  
"Annie didn't kill me when we first encountered her Titan form," Armin retorted, growing frustrated even though Eren was being unusually calm on his behalf, " and she knew I knew she was the Female Titan when we tried to capture her but she didn't try to escape until she Shifted. Before she agreed to go with me, to trust me, Annie realized our plan and could have refused but she didn't." Armin finished loading up his horse and hopped up onto it's saddle, "tell Mikasa I say hello."  
"Alright, I'll see you in a few days," Eren replied defeated. Ever since the ocean was discovered a quicker route was discovered for travelers to go back and forth between the sea and the Walls.  
"Bye, and thank you for not stopping me, since we both know who would win in a physical confrontation." Armin joked laughing half-heartedly along with Eren before nudging his horse's side, prompting it into a trot towards the 'cage' he had fled from.

*************************

Eren entered his house to find his wife Mikasa reading in a chair by the window. The two had finally married shortly after discovering the ocean despite their young ages, she looked up and saw the young man's face and it's uncharacteristic look of defeat and sighed. "You couldn't stop him could you?"  
"There's no stopping him Mikasa," Eren admitted, "to be completely honest, I don't know why we try to, what's the harm in him seeing her? It's unlikely she's coming back out of the crystal any time soon anyway."  
"It's not seeing her that's the problem," Mikasa replied with her usually stoic face betraying a slight frown, "it's when he comes back. He always looks so defeated when he returns from the Walls. Every time Armin visits her, he expects that maybe she'll come back to him, and every time she doesn't come out is a reminder that she won't. It's self destructive for him to visit her."  
Eren looked at Mikasa in surprise for a second before looking down, she was right after all, Armin always looked sad after he visited Annie's abandoned cell. No guard was stationed there anymore since everyone had given up on her return, Armin was the only one who believed the crystal would break. A small laugh found it's way from the man's lungs, prompting Mikasa to quirk her eyebrows at her husband. "We sound like his parents," Eren laughed.  
Mikasa, realizing that Eren was right chuckled as well, "we do don't we?"

*************************

After two days of riding and barely any sleep, Armin arrived at Annie's holding cell under Historia and Ymir's castle. Quietly and carefully he slipped into the underground cell, even though he could not be persecuted for merely visiting the self-imprisoned girl. Lighting a small lantern, Armin watched as flames danced across Annie's face and the rough edges of the crystal she was trapped in. As usual, Armin pulled up a chair, and recounted all that had happened in the two weeks since his last visit.  
Suddenly, the young man was interrupted by a strange heat on his back. Turning around, he gasped when he saw Annie's crystal silently steaming and the small teen falling with a dull bump on the ground. Quickly, the blonde man jumped out of his seat and knelt next to the unconscious girl, checking her wrist for a pulse, he sighed with relief when he found one and became surprised with how quickly it was speeding up. Before he could react, Annie's eyes flew open and she landed a solid hit on Armin's face sending him falling back. Jumping up into her usual fighting stance, the now awake young woman's mask of anger turned to one of confusion when she saw the man on his back rise into a sitting position with a small smile.  
"Not a dream," the blonde smiled, "because that really hurt Annie."  
"Who are you?" Annie whispered, realizing where she was, "and how do you know my-" The question died on her lips when she saw the boy, now grown, who had believed she was a good person even though she had convinced herself otherwise. "Armin?"  
"Good to see you too." Armin quietly whispered with a smile, "and nice to know you remember me. Now come on," he held out his hand to the freed blonde, "let's get you out of here."

*************************

On a balcony on the top floor of her palace, another small blonde woman stood, gazing at the land below her. Silently, a dark haired woman slid her arms around the blonde's waist with no protest, as this was their usual habit. Slyly, the dark haired woman said "It's a nice night to be stargazing, but don't you think it's a little late to be stargazing Your Highness?"  
The blonde laughed, "well Your Majesty, I wanted to escape your snoring."  
"I do not snore Historia," the tall woman muttered into Historia's shoulder.  
"Oh yes you do Ymir," Historia laughed, "even back in training." Suddenly, a small sight greeted Historia's sleepy eyes, which she rubbed before confirming what she saw. "Ymir, do you see that?"  
"Hmm? What?" Ymir lifted her face from Historia's shoulder and looked to where her wife pointed, seeing the horse leaving the front of the castle with two golden haired riders on it's back. "That's Armin," Ymir realized, she knew he came to visit Annie's crystal and she never wanted or felt like she needed to stop him, "but who's with him?"  
Historia sprinted in the duo's room before running back out with a small spyglass, looking through it, her blue eyes widened as she handed the spyglass to Ymir, "I don't believe it."  
Ymir, quickly looking through the spyglass herself and focusing on the horses smaller rider, gaped in surprise once she saw the second rider's small blonde ponytail. "She finally woke up," Ymir breathed, "Annie's awake."  
"What should we do?" Historia prompted.  
"Visit Armin later," Ymir responded, before Historia could question further, Ymir continued, "we shouldn't stop him, he's been waiting for her since she started her little nap. I do have an idea on how to make sure the government doesn't lose it's shit once they find out though, we'll talk to them in the morning." Ymir walked back into their room, ready to resume sleeping, with Historia following. The latter threw a quick glance over her shoulder at the nearly invisible horse, vanishing into the night before she went back into her room and closed the door.


	2. Chapter 2

"So that's what happened when I was in there?" Annie asked as Armin recounted the events that occurred after she had frozen herself, "Reiner and Bertholdt are dead then?" The duo had stopped for the night at the halfway point to Armin's seaside home and Armin was explaining the events she had missed as they sat across from each other.  
"Yeah, they knew they wouldn't survive if we took them to the Military Police for questioning, so they died fighting against us," Armin replied, "we also were unable to capture the Ape Titan, Eren killed him when he went berserk in the final battle."  
"He still can't control himself?"  
"He can," Armin admitted, "we just call it 'berserk' because he goes all out with no regards towards his own safety, but he can regain control of himself now. The military can't control him is the issue and it's too dangerous to try and stop him. That's why he live away from the Walls, partially by choice and partially because he is seen as more dangerous than Ymir."  
"Still surprised she became a queen and Krista was actually named Historia and was of royal blood."  
Armin let out a laugh, "yeah, it was certainly unexpected. Although I am happy they ended up together, Historia was very depressed when she went with Reiner and Bertholdt to gather intel." Armin stopped when he realized Annie was staring at him, "what?"  
"You grew out your hair," Annie stated running a bit through her fingers, "it's nice."  
"Th-thanks!" Armin blushed slightly reverting back to the nervous boy he was.  
"Armin, I have to ask," Annie stated ceasing her contact with Armin's hair and staring deeply into his eyes, "why did you wait for me after everything I did? And why didn't you call the military once I was free?"  
"Because I still think you were a good person, despite everything you did." Armin admitted, "you didn't kill me and you were smart enough to realize the Scouting Legion's plan to capture you, but you still trusted me."  
"Just because I was a good person was a good person to you doesn't make me a good person overall."  
"No one's an entirely good person," Armin explained, realizing Annie was growing upset with his kindness towards her due to her belief that she still was a bad person, "Commander Smith is seen as a good person for helping to free humanity, but he sent people to their deaths all of the time before that. Captain Levi is seen as Humanity's Strongest and a hero to all, but he is actually very cold hearted and can be ruthless to achieve his goals."  
"I see your point then," Annie said, "but that's not really your reason is it?"   
"No," Armin sighed, "I was hoping that we could continue where we left off, but I can tell it's delusional of me." Armin's second sentence was rushed as he hurried to say it through his growing nervousness.  
"Not delusional at all, it makes this easier." Annie finished her sentence by pecking Armin on the lips, eliciting a blink and a bright red blush from the blonde man, she stood up and walked to the horse, grabbing two blankets and tossing one to Armin. "I'm going to sleep, you should too, you look exhausted."  
"Oh yeah right, sleep." Armin stuttered snapping out of his daze. *Annie, you can still make me turn into a gibbering fool even after all this time.* "Goodnight then."  
"Goodnight."

*************************

"So this is your house? A bit small, figured the government would've thanked you by giving you your own personal mansion." Annie said eyeing the cottage up and down while noting the small imperfections in the woodwork around the door. The duo had arrived by mid-afternoon two days after Annie had broken out of her crystal.  
"Eren helped build it, he put together the main structure." Armin offered before turning and looking at a shifting figure in the rocks near his home, "what in the world?"  
Suddenly a three meter high Titan crawled out of the rocks and began slowly sauntering towards the two blondes. Thinking quickly, Annie crunched down on her thumb, sending droplets of blood flying through the air and a crack of lightning fell upon her. When the dust cleared, another Titan, blonde and fourteen meters tall, stood between the smaller Titan and Armin who had fallen on one knee from the strength of the lightning bolt. With a roar, the Female Titan launched a kick at the three meter Titan's neck, snapping it and crushing the nape. Silently, the surprise attacker sank to the ground before evaporating into hissing smoke.  
Ensured of her enemy's demise, the Female Titan leaned down and began looking over Armin for any injuries when another bolt of lightning struck about half a mile away. "Oh shit," Armin breathed, "he saw." To clear up any confusion of who 'he' was a deep, guttural roar sounded and a giant, dark-haired Titan began to charge at the Female Titan and Armin's location. The Rogue Titan had appeared.

*************************

Knowing she could not exit her Titan form before Eren saw her, Annie, in Female Titan form, rose to her feet and stared at the direction the dark-haired giant was advancing from. Once he was closer, she spied a black haired woman crouching on the Rogue Titan's shoulder, clad in 3DMG. *Oh great, the Suicidal Bastard brought her with him.* Annie thought from within the Female Titan's neck. She was confident in her ability to defeat Eren, but Mikasa raised a problem.  
About half a minute later, the Rogue Titan reached Annie and Armin and stopped, staring at the Female Titan in surprise with the woman on his shoulder doing the same. After a few moments he noticed Armin in front of her, unharmed. A roar erupted from the Rogue Titan's throat, followed by a raspy and an almost inaudible voice, "Rematch?" The Rogue Titan asked with a tilted head that resembled a curious dog. The Female Titan nodded scooping up Armin in her hands and placing him on her shoulder before jogging towards the boulders behind Armin's house with the Rogue Titan following.  
Upon turning behind the boulders, the two Titan Shifters and the people on their shoulders reached a small stretch of beach. The two giants each placed their 'riders' on the sand some distance from to spectate before each assumed a fighting stance. With a roar, the Rogue Titan brought his knee up towards the Female Titan who jumped back before aiming a swift quick which was barely blocked by the Rogue's hands. Assuming a vice like grip, the dark-haired Titan swung his opponent around and sent her skidding into the sand behind him. Jumping back up, the blonde giant swung a diamond-hard fist directly into her opponents face sending him stepping back with steam pouring from his crushed nose.  
Following her punch, the Female Titan kneed her opponent in the gut before being shoved backwards by the Rogue. With his face still steaming, the Rogue Titan head butted his opponent in the throat sending her a step backwards. Before he could jump back, the Female Titan grabbed the back of his neck and tore it open, causing her opponent to slump to the ground with steam billowing from the gash behind his head.  
Taking a few steps back, the Female Titan crouched down and allowed it's pilot to jump down from it's neck before collapsing in a jumble of limbs. Mikasa flew over to the Rogue Titan's body where Eren was crawling out of using her 3DMG before landing gracefully in front of him before checking him over for any injuries. Armin on the other hand went over to Annie who was walking over to Eren and Mikasa.  
Looking over Eren glanced Annie up and down, "so you're back." Mikasa merely glared at Annie which she returned with a glare of her own. Unexpectedly the whirring of multiple sets of 3DMG's were heard prompting all four of the people on the beach to look over. Annie sighed when she saw Jean. Kirschtein, Sasha Blouse and Connie Springer land on the sand below the rocks and simply look at Annie in shock.  
Eventually Jean broke the silence by stating what was on the other two new arrivals' minds, "how the fuck did you get out of there and all the way here?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Well? Answer me!" Jean snarled when Annie did not respond, aiming one of his swords at her while Connie and Sasha tensed nervously beside him.  
"I brought Annie here." Armin stepped forward, between himself and the blonde girl who was tensed, ready to fight Jean barehanded if she had to.  
"Are you crazy Armin?!" Connie wailed, "she could kill us all! Eren is clearly no match for her, no offense." Connie added, noticing Eren glaring daggers at his statement.  
"I could have killed Armin when he was bringing me here, but I didn't," Annie pointed out, stepping up to and standing next to Armin. "I could have crushed Eren while he was inside his Titan form's neck, but I didn't. Believe me, I am done with fighting, unless one of you attacks me first."  
"Of course I'm going to fight you!" Jean exclaimed, "you killed Marco! The one person I trusted! Then you used his gear and killed two Titans the Scouting Legion needed to learn about our enemy!"  
"I didn't kill Marco."  
"Then how did you get his gear?"  
"I was instructed to kill the two captured Titan's by the same person who led Reiner, Bertholdt and myself. But I knew our gear would be inspected for recent use once the Titans were found dead." Annie explained, not taking her eyes off of Jean's raised sword,"so I decided to steal a fallen soldiers gear the night before the bodies were cleared. Marco's was the most intact, and I placed him against a building after I took his gear so whoever found him wouldn't find half of a good soldier sprawled in the middle of the road."  
"She has a point Jean," Connie spoke up, "Titan's weren't really for sitting up their food nice and pretty after taking a bite out of it. You saved my life in Trost after I missed the Titan I was supposed to kill, the least I can do is let you live too."  
Annie stared at Connie for a second before nodding in thanks. This was not the same immature, somewhat dimwitted boy from their training days. Fighting the Titans and surviving while his friends and comrades died around him and surviving had made him much wiser. Sasha spoke up, agreeing with Connie, "if Connie can forgive you, so can I. We lived together for three years and trained together. You never yelled at me when I woke you up after sneaking food from the kitchen at night and we never really quarreled. Plus, you saved this guy," she nudged Connie with her elbow, "so I guess I have to thank you for that somehow."  
Annie nodded at Sasha as well before tensing up when she saw Jean walking closer to her. Looking up with her usual cold stare, Annie's eyebrows raised in confusion when she noticed Jean's extended hand. "If everyone else can try to forgive you, so can I."

*************************

Four days later, Queen Ymir and Queen Historia arrived that the 104th's small village by the sea. Shortly after, all of the village's inhabitants, including Annie, met the two Queens in the center of the small town. "Your Highnesses," Connie drawled with an exaggerated bow while Sasha curtsied with the same exaggeration beside him, "what brings you to our humble dwellings."  
Historia laughed before dismounting her horse with Ymir dismounting hers. "Good to see you to Connie." Ymir walked up beside Historia and looked at Connie and Sasha with amusement.  
"This right here is why it's fun to be a queen." Looking up Ymir spotted Annie standing beside Armin, "there you are! I'm guessing your boyfriend Arlert brought you here?"  
"He did." Annie responded with her usual coldness, "I suppose you're here to bring me back and turn me in to the Military Police?"  
"No, we're here to let you know you're free to go. We convinced Commanders Dot Pixis and Hanji Zoë as well as Captain Levi Ackerman that the fact you had left so far from the Walls that you were no longer a threat."  
"That's great!" Armin exclaimed, "but then why did the queens come and not a military official?"  
"Well for one thing Levi or Hanji would kill Annie on sight, Erwin can't ride a horse this far with one arm and Pixis is well, Pixis." Ymir explained, "also, none of them are Titan Shifters and I could fight you if I had too. Oh and we're staying here for a week to make sure you get all nice and settled in because we're so nice." Ymir's final comment earned here a light elbow jab from Historia which was laughed off by the taller queen.  
"Well thank you for your kindness Your Majesty," Annie drawled, "but I don't need you to waste your time babysitting me."  
"Believe me I don't want to have to watch you Ms. Leonhardt, but it's necessary so we have to." Ymir explained, even through another nudge in the gut from Historia, "actually since he was the one who freed you, your boyfriend there," she nodded towards Armin, "will be keeping an eye on you. You'll live with him, I assume that won't be a problem, since you two snuck out together so much as trainees."  
Annie prepared for another snappy retort but Armin cut her off, "I take full responsibility for Annie and I will keep an eye on her. Let's go Annie." Armin said with finality as he turned and walked away, Annie shooting a parting glare at Ymir who smirked back as she followed. The rest of the crowd that had gathered around Ymir and Historia quickly dispersed.  
"I was winning that argument, I just needed a little more time to wrap it up." Annie said to Armin with her typical stoniness as they walked back to his home.  
"I know, but you two are both quite good arguers, so I decided to end it before you both argued there all day." Armin replied with a bright smile that forced Annie to look away before her blank and cold face broke into a small smile of her own. *How is it that you are always able to do that Arlert?* She thought to herself.

*************************

"Did you need to start bickering with Annie?" Historia asked as her and Ymir settled into Eren and Mikasa's spare bedroom.  
"Yes."  
Historia let out a sigh before remembering something, "by the way, how did you know Armin and Annie snuck out at night back in training?"  
Ymir chuckled, "Armin wasn't completely stealthy a few days ago when he snuck Annie out of the Walls, he wasn't completely stealthy when he snuck her out of the barracks either."


	4. Chapter 4

The two queens Ymir and Historia ended up only staying for five days rather than the whole week upon seeing that Annie was accepted into the seaside community without any apparent issues. After they left, life continued as it had with very subtle changes. Armin was no longer alone when he sketched the ocean and sea-life. However, he was having trouble checking the tidal pools in the rock caves behind his house without being held back by his new housemate. "You're not going in there Arlert." Annie said without looking up from the book of Armin's sketches. Before he could open his mouth to argue, Annie continued, "if you go in there, I'll carry you out if I have to and I can imagine that Blouse and Springer would never let you live that down."  
"It's just for an hour or so," Armin insisted, "I need to see if any new species were swept into the caves by the rain last night."  
"No."  
"But -"  
"No." Seeing he had no other options, Armin went to the back of the house where his small book collection was located. Annie thought nothing of it until she heard the back door creak open. "That little shit," Annie placed the book down before jogging down the hall and out the back door. Too late, Armin had already slipped into the rocks before Annie could stop him, "I'm going to kill him."  
Rushing into the cave she saw Armin standing still, staring at wall of collapsed rocks blocking an opening that used to allow access between the cave's saltwater pools and the ocean. Without the opening, Armin could not study the varying species of sea-life nearly as easily as he could before. "How," he breathed, "how did this happen?" Before he could continue lamenting over the loss of a great source of information, he was lifted up and carried out of the cave by a pair of strong arms. "Annie?"  
"I told you I would carry you out if you went in." She huffed, bringing both of them in the house and tossing Armin on the couch.  
"Why didn't you tell me? You clearly knew the cave had collapsed."  
"For one, I figured you heard it collapse, it fell in after it rained.a few days back, how deeply do you sleep Arlert?" Annie explained and asked, "another reason I didn't tell you was because I worried the cave would collapse completely when you rushed in. That's why I carried you out."  
"I wouldn't have rushed in!" Armin protested but gave up arguing when he realized Annie could see straight through his lie, he would have charged into the cave as soon as he heard it had collapsed.  
"There is another way to observe wildlife, and it's a species I know you haven't sketched yet." Annie offered, realizing how much the cave's species and documenting them meant to Armin.  
"How's that?"

************************

"This is how you watch wildlife?" Armin asked, "the ocean is down there." Annie had brought Armin to the top of a large boulder at dusk she knew was unshaken by the sea cave's collapse.  
"The shallow ocean is down there, the deep ocean is out there." Annie pointed to a large cove down the beach from where they were sitting, "now hush, it's starting."  
"What's -" Armin started to ask, but was interrupted by a gargantuan splash from the cove. Looking over, he saw a group of immense tails with equally large flukes rise and sink below the water. Several minutes later, a group of giant dark-gray heads with large white spots with gaping mouths rose out of the sea. Mystified Armin drew a crude sketch, filling in what he could see, mainly the heads and tails, but also part of the back of another one of the giant creatures that was swimming close to the rest of the group. He estimated the length of each animal to be just about fourteen meters, as long as most Titan's were tall.  
"Amazing isn't it?" Annie asked, Armin only nodded to fascinated by Annie's new discovery to speak, "I call them sea-Titans, since that's what they look like. I figure they move around a lot or you would have noticed them by now." Looking down, Annie saw Armin's sketch, with the estimated measurements and several light lines estimating how large the "sea-Titan's'" stomach's were since he couldn't see them. Suddenly, one of the giant sea creatures burst from the water, showing it's underside to the watching humans as if on command.  
Armin quickly erased his estimated measurements and sketched down the lines for the stomach the jumping sea-Titan had just revealed. Once he finished drawing, Armin yelled out a "thank you" to the group of giant animals which were now blasting water from their heads before they dove back under the ocean's surface. Once they were gone, Armin took Annie's hand in his own, "and thank you, for showing me that new sea-life."  
"Funny," Annie responded, "I was going to thank you for showing me this new life by the sea." Armin laughed while Annie smiled her usual small smile before laughing herself.  
" Come on," Armin said rising to his feet, "let's go home before it get's too late."  
"It's not too late for some things." Annie responded coolly walking past Armin with a small grin, causing the blonde man to blush furiously and follow the shorter woman down the giant boulder with a deep song being sung by the sea-Titans from below the waves as the duo descended down the rocks.

************************

The next morning, Annie awoke to a missing Armin and the smell of something cooking. Rolling over, she heard something crinkle behind her back. Turning back over, carefully, as not to lay on whatever just made a noise behind her, Annie found one of Armin's sketches. Only this sketch was not observations about a fish or of the sea-Titans from yesterday, it was her. Floating beside the giant dark head of a sea-Titan. Carefully, to not wrinkle the artwork more, Annie placed it on the bedside table before jumping out of the bed to see what was making that amazing smell.  
"Good morning!" Armin said cheerfully. He had donned a white apron and was cooking at the wood-powered stove in the kitchen. "Sleep well?" The only response Armin received was a small hum as Annie walked over to see what he was cooking.  
"Any chance you're making coffee with that?" Annie asked looking at the egg yolks that were cooking in a pan next to some cut sausage in another pan and a kettle which could be tea or coffee.  
"Coffee, mind setting the table?" Armin asked, shifting the cut sausages to cook them evenly and causing the cooking meat to hiss loudly. Annie nodded grabbing two plates, forks, knives and mugs from a cabinet next to the small kitchen table.  
"Thank goodness it's coffee, tea doesn't help wake me up. Also, I got your drawing," Annie continued as she finished setting down the utensils, "thank you."  
"So you liked it?"  
"Would I be thanking you if I didn't?" Annie retorted, eliciting a laugh from the man by the stove.


	5. Chapter 5

The duo's routine continued this way for several weeks. Annie actually conducted her own research about the sea-Titans, which she and Armin discovered were actually called Gray Whales by the people who studied them before the Titan War. Eventually, a knock on the door gave Armin and Annie a change of pace. The once upon a time Titan Researcher, Hange Zoe had come to visit.  
"Good afternoon Mr. Arlert!" Hange exclaimed with her usual vigor when Armin came to answer the door, "may I come in?"  
"Well, this is a surprise! Come in Hange," to Armin, it was not really much of a surprise. Hange often dropped in unexpectedly visited him to ask about Armin to ask him about his studies, "what brings you here?"  
"Well..." Hange said tapping her head in mock thought, partially ignoring Armin's question, "it doesn't look like you have a Titan Shifter living with you. Mikasa says Eren can be a bit messy around the house but I guess Ms. Leonhardt's a bit more organized hmm?"  
Armin sighed, "you want to study her don't you?"  
"Of course! Her hardening ability is unique! Eren can't do it and the Colossal and Armored Titans never exhibited that ability!"  
"So you don't want her dead?" Armin asked hopefully.  
Hange let out a sigh before plopping down on the couch, "Queens Ymir and Historia said not to dissect her so no. I do agree that exile is a fair punishment, after all, she was just a soldier following orders and she was never seen during the breach of Wall Maria and the Battle of Trost so she avoided those charges. Personally, I am upset about her killing Survey Corps soldiers in her attempt to capture Eren but again, she was following higher orders."  
Looking around, Hange noticed Annie was not in the house, "so where is our little blonde Titan Shifter?"  
"Studying some animals she discovered," Armin explained, "the pre-Wall society called them Gray Whales."  
Hange's eyes shone, "A NEW SPECIES?!?" The eccentric scientist yelled, "INCREDIBLE!" The back door flew open and Annie rushed in.  
"I heard yelling what's going -" Annie stopped when she saw Hange, who had almost captured her before her crystallization in Wall Sina, giggling at the prospect of another previously forgotten animal, "what's she doing here?"  
Hange, realizing Annie was there through her excitement, gripped the smaller blondes shoulders and grinned, "hello! I'm just her to see how you're doing and conduct a study on your hardening ability!" Annie shook of Hange's hands before looking at Armin with an annoyed expression. The blonde man simply mouthed an 'I didn't know she was coming, I'm sorry." Annie rolled her eyes at his excuse. "So, can you help me learn to benefit science?!" Hange asked enthusiastically, Annie simply nodded quietly and quickly in response.

************************

Later, Armin, Hange and Annie walked out to a field where Annie would not disturb or worry anyone when she transformed. After Hange set up some supplies she used to study old captured Titans and Eren in order to study Annie, Annie was given the go ahead and transformed for the second time since being out of her crystal. A few moments after her Titan body had formed, Hange zipped up to Annie's shoulder using her 3DMG to look at her face and arms.  
"You look much different than Eren," Hange mused, writing down notes in a small leather booklet. "You actually have lips! Can you speak in this form, yes or no?"  
A few seconds later, the Female Titan let out a slightly raspy response, "yes," was all the Shifter said. Hange grinned patting Annie's cheek which made the giant woman flinch away slightly. Righting herself, Hanji added more notes to her booklet.  
"Can you harden your face?" Hange asked looking up from her notes. A few seconds later, Annie had hardened her Titan form's face, giving it a shiny layer that bounced off sunlight forcing both the man sitting on the ground and the person on her shoulder to shield their eyes from the glare. "Impressive! Is it alright if you break of a piece or two for me to study?" Annie raised her other hand to her face as to not shake Hange off and picked off two small pieces of crystal with a slight wince each time, as if she were plucking an eyelash. The blonde Titan then dropped the two sky blue pieces of crystal to the ground next to Armin for Hange to study later.  
The rest of Hange's studies were simple. Muscle stretches, vocalizations, and more crystallizing. In several hours, Annie exited her giant body and went home with Armin and Hange. The next morning, Hange left back to the Walls to discuss her findings with other scientists. Bidding farewell to Armin and Annie, the bespectacled scientist rode off.  
Annie let out a relieved sigh, "thank goodness she's finally gone." Looking at Armin she saw the blonde man grinning at her, "what?"  
Pulling a small box out of his pocket, Armin glanced away shyly, "I had Hange make this for you." Looking at Armin with a raised eyebrow, Annie opened the box. With wide eyes, Annie took out a small silver ring, with a piece of crystal, her own crystal, on it. "I know we've only started living together a short time ago, but I do know how I feel about you. Will you marry me Annie?"  
Speechless, Annie looked at the ring and at Armin who looked about as nervous as anyone could get, a reminder of the small boy he once was. *Marry him? But he's always been a good to everyone, he helped save humanity! I tried to help destroy it! But,* Annie looked back at the blonde man, who was still looking at her nervously, *I have always been, or tried to be, a good person for him. If he feels the same way I do for him, like he just said he did, my course of action is clear.*  
"Annie?" Armin was nervous now, she was not responding, "are you okay?"  
Annie looked at him, remembering their bond as trainees, the pain she felt when she attacked the Scouting Legion, the agony when she almost had to kill the one person who made her feel human and the pain when he realized she was the one who killed his comrades. Even through all that he still wanted to be with her?  
Some things, Annie could never understand about the enigma that was, Armin Arlert, looking back at the man who claimed to love her, she finally spoke, "my answer is yes, Armin."


End file.
